Circulating tool joint for core barrels and the like



r 1,508,230 M. J. LEWIS CIRCULATING TOOL JOINT FOR CORE BARR ELS AND THE LIKE Sept. 9 192%.,

Filed Nov. 27, 1922 17/ ii 35 I 7 11 Q l e V 1' 5?: 40 2 v. 16 5 .05 igi 31 77f k end of the core barrel which is adapted to Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

CIRCULATING TOOL JOINT FORGO'RE BAR-EELS AND THE LIKE. 7

Application filed November 27, 1922. Serial No. 603,621.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILES J. LEWIS, a citizen of the United- States, residing at Long Beach, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Circulating ToolJoint for Core Barrels and the like, of which the following is a specification.

Ordinarily, in the taking of samples of the strata through which a well is being bored, the core barrel is inserted in the well and, before it strikes the hard undrilled formation at the bottom, it passes through considerable liquid and detritus dislodged by the drilling operation. The bore of the core barrel thus tends to become packed with detritus. When the core barrel reaches the hard formation it is rotated to cause it to penetrate said formation, but the detritus already lodged in the core barrel will, to a more or less degree, prevent the core of solid formation filling the core barrel. In other words, When the driller has withdrawn the core barrel from the well, after supposably obtaining a core representative of the formation at the bottom of the well, he cannot tell for a certainty whether or not the core he has taken is representative of the stratum at the bottom or of thestrata higher up.

An object of this invention is to make it possible to obtain a core that, with certainty, will be known to contain only the hard formation at the bottom ofthe well hole being drilled.

Another object is to provide for contin uous flushing of the core barrel with the fluid until the 'core barrel strikes the bottom of the hole, and then to shut ofi the flushing fluid from the core barrel.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Figure 1 is a vertical mid section of a tool joint constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention, the relatively rotatable members thereof being in position to shut off the flow of fluid into the upper be connected with the lower end of said tool 'oint, 1 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the upper end of Figure 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are plan sections on the lines indicated by 33 and 4-4, respectively, Figure 1. In Figure 4 the relatively rotatable members are in the positions they occupy to admit the flushing fluid to flow through the tool joint and into the core barrel that may be attached thereto.

Fig. 5 is a reduced plan section on the line indicated by 55, Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an inverted plan view of the lower end of the outer member.

Figure 7 is a reduced section of the inner member on the line indicated by 7 7 Fig. 1.

Figure 8 is a reduced longitudinal view of the tool joint coupled with a core barrel. The tool joint comprises an outer member 11 and an inner member 12. The outer member 11 is provided at its upper end with coupling means in the form of a box 14:

adapted to cooperate with the pin of a core barrel so that the core barrel may be connected with the tool joint. The core barrel is indicated at a in Fig.8, and may be of any suitable construction. and pin 13 may be of the usual box and pin construction employed on oil well tools.

The outer member 11 is provided with an internal screw-thread 15 which engages an external screw-thread 16 on the inner member 12. These are preferably relatively coarse threads.

The upper end of the inner member 12 constitutes a two-way valve indicated at 17. The valve 17 is provided with a longitudinally extending port or ports 18 and with another port or ports 19 extending from the upper end face ct the valve to the periphery thereof, as clearly seen in Figure 1. The ports 18, 19 are positioned at ninety degrees of circular measurement from one another so that, when the valve 17 is turned to the position shown in Figure 1, the ports 19 will register with ports 20 extending through the pin 13 and with laterally extending ports 21 extending from the interior of the member 11 to the peripheral face thereof. Also, when the valve 17 is turned to position ninety degrees of circular measurement from the position shown in Figure 1, or to the position shown in Figure 4, the ports 18 will register with the ports 20. Thus, in this position of the valve 17, the ports 19 will be closed and the ports 18 opened.

When the valve 17 is in position to register the ports 19 with the ports 20, 21, a shoulder The box 1 1 80 from the upper end of the bore 2d of theouter member, thus enabling the inner and outer members to be relatively turned to easily unscrew them.- The shoulders 22, 23

are constructed to engage when the members 11, 12 are relatively turned to screw the inner member into the outer member and to permit unscrewing thereof. These shoulders 22, 23, are merely for the purpose of preventing frictional engagement of the upper end of the valve 17 with the upper end of the bore 24 and, of course, could be dispensed with it so desired.

When the members 11, 12 are turned to position with the shoulders 22, 23 in engagement, as in Figure 1, alatch plunger 25 projects from a socket '26 in the member 12 into a socket 27 in the member 11, a coil spring 28 in the socket 26 tending to urge the plunger 25 outwardly,

When the members 11, 12am in the relative positions shown in Figure l, a radially extending hole 29 in the outer member 11 registers with a radially extending hole 30 in the inner'member 12. When the members 11, 12 are thus positioned, a pin 31, shown in Figure 4c, is inserted in the holes 29, 30 and prevents relative rotation between the members 11, 12, unless-torque or the member 11 and resistence thereto of the member 12 efi'ects shearing or said pin, as

.will be explained more fully hereinafter.

Of course, when the pin 31 is in position, the plunger 25 will be compressed within the socket 26 and will be positioned ninety degrees or circular measurement from the socket 27, as clearly shown in Figure l.

The main details of. construction or the tool joint have been described above, but certain other ieatures of construction, though not necessary, are preferable, and they will now be described. Preferably the valve 17 is constructed of three separate members, an externally threaded member 32, an internally threaded body 33 screwed on to the member 32 and of less length than the member 32, and a third member 34; internally threaded to engage the member 32. The body 33 is provided in its peripheral face adjacent\ilts lower end with an annular groove 35 i which is seated a packing'rin 36, prefe rably of rubber or the like. A so the member 3 1 is provided in its peripheral race adjacent its lower end with an annularggroove 37 in which is seated a packi ring 38 of rubber or the like. The pac ing ring 36, 38 insure against leakage of fluid between the valve and the peripheral wall oi the bore 34, and the construction of the valve in pieces, as

neoaeeodescribed, is merely for the purpose of facilitating the emplacement and removal or .the packing rings.

vents 39 open at their lower ends into the bore 40 of the inner member 12 and open at their upper ends at the peripheral face or the valve 17. When the members 11, 12 are in position to register the ports 19 with the ports 29, 21, the vents 39 register with radialports 41 opening from the bore 24 of the member 11 to the peripheral face of the member 11.

The tool joint described above with the pin 31 in place, as in Fig. 41, operates as follows: The core barrel, indicated at a in Fig. 8, to be employed inobtaining the test core is connected with the box 141 and the pin 13 is connected with the drill pipe collar, in a manner readily understood. The tool joint with the core barrel attached thereto is then lowered into the well hole and, while it is being lowered through the fluid, detritus and other loose material in the well, a fluid will be pumped through the drill same as when boring the well. T 's .tluid passes through the ports 20, 18, into the ipe the bore 40 and thence into .and through the bore of the core barrel and discharges at the lower end or said core barrel. The fluid thus discharging flows upwardly around the periphery of the core barrel, preventing the detritus and other loose material adjacent said core barrel from packing and enterin said core barrel. Because of the detritusieing loosened and carried away as the core barrel descends, there is no material resi tence to descent of the core barrel until the lower end thereof engages the hard formation from which the core is to be taken. 'As soon as the core barrel" strikes the hard formation, the drill pipe line will be rotated, in a manner well understood in this art, to efiect penetration of the core barrel into said formation, The core barrel meets with resistence to its rotation and the torque of the member 11 against such resistence causes shearing Or the pin 31, thus permitting the outer member 11 to rotate a quarter or a turn, or until the -shoulder 23 engages the shoulder 22, as in Figure 1. This, as has been explained above, eflects closing or the ports 18 and opening of the ports 19 so that supply of fluid is shut off from the er member 12 and core barrel and the fluid discharges instead through the ports 21, thus continuing to carry away from the periphery of the tool joint and core barrel the detritus surrounding the same. As the core barrel penetrates deeper and deeper into the formation, the fluids that may be in the bore are readily dischargedtherefrom through the vent 39 and ports 41 by reason of the tendency of the core to compress the fluids as it advances into the bore of the core barrel.

When, in the judgment of the operator, the core barrel has been caused to penetrate sufliciently far into the formation to obtain a solid core throughout substantially the full length of the core barrel, the drill pipe will be elevated to withdraw the core barrel from the hole made thereby, This withdrawing operation, because of engagement from time to time of the member 12 with the wall of the well, might tend to unscrew the member 12 from the member 11 were it not that, when the shoulder 23 engaged the shoulder 22, the plunger 25 came into registration with the socket 27 and was thrust into said socket by the expansive force of the spring 28. Of course this plunger 25 positively prevents unscrewing of the member 11 from the member 12. It is to be. understood that it may not be absolutely necessary to provide the plunger 25 and sockets 26, 27, since the screw-threads 15, 16 may produce suflicient friction to prevent the unscrewlng movement mentioned above, however, it is preferable that some such latching means-as the plunger 25 be employed so as to absolutely insure against such unscrewing.

It is preferable that the core barrel be without the vent b, so that all of the fluid forced into the upper end of the core barrel will flow to the lower endthereof.

I claim:

1. In a method of obtaining a test core from a well, the combination of steps consisting in forcing a flushing fluid through the core barrel while lowering said core barrel into engagement with the formation from which the core is to be taken, and. then while the core barrel is adjacent to the for mation shutting ofi the flushing fluid from the core barrel and forcing the core barrel into the formation.

2. The combination with a core barrel, of means to admit a flushing fluid to the upper end of the core barrel while said barrel is being lowered into contact with the formation at the bottom of the well hole, said means being operable by resistance of the core barrel to rotation to shut off the flow of fluid to the core barrel.

3. In, a tool joint, the combination of valved means to admit a flushing fluid to the upper end of a core barrel while said core barrel is being lowered into contact with the formation at the bottom of the well hole, said means being operated to shut 0d the flow of fluid to the core barrel by resistance of the core barrel to rotation when said core barrel engages said formation.

- Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 20th day of November, 1922'.

' MILES J. LEWIS. 

